JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
46 
[ January 19, 1882. 
every three weeks at least, and in well-kept ornamental ground 
once a fortnight. It is a mistake to postpone garden work. 
A piece of ground may be easily cleared this week in an hour, 
which may cost two or three if the work is postponed. “Time 
and tide wait for no man,"and as little will garden work. We 
have one lawn here which if cut once every week takes just 
two hours and forty minutes ; but when a week is missed, and 
sometimes we must do it, the scythe has to be used before the 
machine can be passed over it. Three hours are saved (!) at 
the expense of fifteen ! This is only one illustration, for many 
other garden operations if delayed become almost useless. For 
instance, if Grapes are not thinned when they ought to be, 
what is the result ? Ruin of the crop is far too often only 
overcome by the unfortunate who is responsible, sitting up 
late and rising early when others are resting. 
We imagine we save time in winter for summer use bj r sup¬ 
plying most of our liquid manure then. There is a too com¬ 
mon idea abroad that the application of liquid manure can 
only properly be done when the crops are growing. Now, to 
apply liquid manure to growing crops in summer effectually it 
is necessary that much water be used, and when this is supplied 
with carts and cans much labour is spent on carrying water 
rather than manure. On the other hand, when applied to land 
in winter the strongest liquid drained from stables or cowhouses 
may be applied without any dilution. There is an idea that 
the manurial elements must be washed away and lost when it 
is thus applied in winter. This is by no means so. Spread 
thinly in frosty weather (and it is then most economically ap¬ 
plied, for most outdoor work is then suspended) it is washed 
into and uniformly diffused through the upper layers, when 
it is taken up by the soil and kept there till plant roots can 
utilise it. It is only when the soil is very sandy indeed that 
manure thus applied is to any extent lost. Ordinary loamy soils 
will retain it all. 
Not only is the application of farmyard water in winter an 
economical method of applying it as regards time, but much 
more so as regards the crop. The moment crops root into soil 
so manured they derive the benefit at once ; while when it is 
applied in summer only, many applications have to be given, 
and time is to the crop partly lost before the plants derive 
much benefit. For our part it is a question, not of whether we 
shall apply it in summer or winter, but whether we shall apply 
it winter or not at all, and we doubt not many more are in the 
same position. If this should be read by any who may doubt 
whether the application of stable water be of service to crops 
when applied in winter, we would say, Doubt no longer. For 
want of time—indeed, partly for want of material—we cannot 
to any extent use it in summer (and it is everywhere more 
abnndant in winter than in summer). So whether a given 
quantity applied in winter or in summer will produce the 
greater effect we will not say ; but we do say, having proved 
it. that applied in winter it is of great service to the crops which 
follow. Among others bush fruits are benefited greatly, espe¬ 
cially if the soil be poor or the plants old, and more particularly 
if ordinary manure has been used only. Of course where there 
is a proper system of storage tanks and pipes and a supply of 
water it may be economically applied at any time, and when 
applied in dry weather on hot soils plentifully its summer ap¬ 
plication will undoubtedly be more marked. But all have not 
pipes and hose, and it is worth while considering whether it is 
more economical to apply a given quantity of manurial salts as 
found in urine diluted in one ton of water, as when pure in 
winter, or in five or six, as is necessary when used in summer. 
A careful division of labour is a very economical arrange¬ 
ment. When a journeyman it was part of our experience to 
have to dig for weeks, and to prune and nail for a similar time. 
Digging, of course, must be done while the ground is suitable ; 
pruning and even nailing may be done at any time. That is 
true, but it is not that arrangement of time to which we refer. 
How often, when nailing in the leaden grey of a December 
morning, have we wished for an hour or two’s exhilirating 
work at the spade ! And when we were really suffering from 
pent-up energy, what a thrifty two-hours digging we would 
have given ! We have often in early summer stiffened our 
joints and cramped our fingers from six in the morning till 
six at night thinning and weeding growing crops—alike in 
the cool morning and under the noonday sun. Next day, very 
probably, there was a ten-hours spell at digging. All this 
is the opposite of economical, yet it is very common. From 
six till nine, while still cool, at the digging, and when the 
sun was high at the weeding and thinning, would have been far 
better for our physical well-being, and the work would un¬ 
doubtedly have been sooner finished. 
There is another point to which we would refer, and we 
would especially call the attention of young men to this. 
Light work should always be done as rapidly as possible. The 
young man who employs his fingers as busily as he can at 
such work—as, for instance, pruning Gooseberries, or nailing 
wall trees, or tying Peach trees, or sponging plants—will not be 
more exhausted at night than will be the young man who takes 
things leisurely ; but by such economy of time will leave more 
for himself and others to perform heavy work, which cannot 
be pushed to the same extent. Such a man is often of extreme 
value to a hard-tried head gardener, and at the least he will 
acquire the ability to do things rapidly, which is an acquire¬ 
ment worth the trouble of gaining. By following the opposite 
course any young man may be sure that much chagrin is in 
store for him in his future, for he will find that he will often 
fail at a supreme moment, just when it is necessary that a spurt 
should be made. 
We remember an instance of how great dexterity at light 
work may be acquired. Some years ago a weaver lad gained 
admittance as an apprentice to a gardener. On the place there 
was a vinery, the Vines trained on the long-rod principle. 
These had been pruned and cleaned, and the lad sent to tie 
the shoots into their places. The gardener always gave this 
work to the apprentices, for he meant it to be a lesson to them 
in the proper distribution of young wood. After listening to 
an explanatory lecture the lad was left to the freedom of his 
own will. Half an hour afterwards he appeared wanting 
another job, announcing the last one finished. No lad had ever 
done the task before in less than a winter’s day, and even at 
that many ties were often found imperfect—too tight, too 
loose, or knots that would not hold, were always discovered by 
the lynx-eyed overseer. First that individual avowed his belief 
that none were tied ; then he thought that the whole would be 
tied in a bundle ; but, finally, went to examine the perform¬ 
ance. To his astonishment not only was every tie perfect, but 
nothing but praise could be found for the admirable way the 
distribution of the wood was effected. “ Let me see you tie 
some knots," said the wondering gardener. Quick as thought 
a dozen knots were tied with a rapidity that no untrained eye 
could follow. “ Man, ye 've mista'en yer tred ; ye shed gang 
and serve a’ 'prenticeship wi' the ‘ Wizard o’ the North,'" ex¬ 
claimed the delighted “ Adam." The lad explained that one 
of the main things in weaving was the rapid tying of broken 
threads. Many fail in that because while threads are being 
tied the loom stands, and seconds lost on each tie come to be 
hours in a day sometimes. But not only will dexterity ac¬ 
quired one way be of value in similar operations ; it is trans¬ 
ferable to others. That same lad used to gather small fruits 
with a rapidity unique. We hope our young readers will fully 
understand our meaning, for though some are naturally slow 
and others naturally dexterous, habit in this, like everything 
else, becomes a second nature. 
We had noted a few more thoughts that might be embodied 
in this paper ; but as it is reaching a great length we will add 
little more. At best we can only illustrate ; the art of econo¬ 
mising time and material can only be learned laboriously and 
by degrees, by habitually considering whether we work to the 
best advantage.— Single-handed. 
The Journal’s New Year’s Address. —Will you permit me, who 
possibly differs in one respect from “ the chaplain general,” “ Wilt¬ 
shire Rector,” to express my admiration of the ideas so beautifully 
expressed with which he launches the Journal of Hoi'ticulture on 
another new year ? In gardening as in other pursuits there are many 
things that make success, almost any one of which at times takes 
precedence of professional ability. This fact would be a potent 
reason for the occasional introduction of such addresses and of such 
practical observations as Mr. Pettigrew’s into a gardening journal. 
If there is any portion of that address to my mind that deserves 
repetition it is the reference to temperance. A gardener may have 
